Definition for Home Garden1 1. A piece of land which has a dwelling house and some form of cultivation can be considered as a home garden if the total area of the piece of land is twenty or less than twenty perches. 2. A piece of land which has a dwelling house and some form of cultivation, if total land areas is more than twenty perches can also be considered as a home garden if following two conditions are satisfied. a. It is mainly meant for residential purposes. b. A produce of cultivated land in the home garden is largely for home consumption. Examples for Home Garden a) A land of extent 20 perches or less has a dwelling house and a few bearing coconut trees. b) A land of 20 perches or less, has a dwelling house and having extensive cultivation mainly for commercial purposes By definition (1) this land can be considered as a home garden c) A two acre land has dwelling house. Although the extent covered by a house is comparatively small and few crops are grown mainly for home consumption. According to definition (2) this land is also a home garden. d) A small house in a two roods land. But the usable land has been intensively cultivated with vegetable crops which are mainly for sale. Although this land has a dwelling house and also extent is small, as the produce from the land is not mainly for home consumption, it will not be treated as a home garden. However, in this survey cases like (d) have been treated as a home garden by excluding the area under commercial cultivation. For an example a one acre land with cinnamon cultivation (commercial purpose) also having a dwelling house, a small area around the house, may be 20 perches or less was separated out from the total land and considered as a home garden. Rest of the land was not counted to the home garden area and it was treated as land area under commercial cultivation. 1 Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka. 1 Conversion Factors All figures in the data tables are given in hectares. However, only total figures of all tables were converted into acres and given in a separate row at the end of each table. Due to inadequate space of the tables it is not possible to accommodate all figures in both units. The following conversion factors can be used to convert hectares into acres or perches. Metric Conversion factor Equivalent Unit Imperial Unit Hectare Multiply by 2.47 Acre Hectare Multiply by 395 Perches Note: The home garden total extents given in the last two rows of the tables are presented as rounded figures without decimals. In some cases, when you are totaling the extent figures of the tables, total and grand total figures may slightly vary due to the adding of decimals. 2 1. Distribution of home gardens in Hambantota District Hambantota district is situated in the South Eastern part of Sri Lanka. This district consisted with 12 Divisional Secretary Divisions (DSDs) and 576 Grama Niladhari Divisions (GNDs). This District is mainly in the dry Zone and part of the district is in semi-arid zone. Rainfall mostly confined to monsoonal periods. Average temperature is ranging from 26 °C to 28°C. The elevation varies from sea level to 6 meters. The distribution pattern of the home gardens in the Hambantota district is shown in Figure 1. The total number of home gardens in the district is about 153,174 and the total extent of all home gardens is about 36,578 ha. (90,347 acres). The total extents of home gardens in the DSDs are lower than the extent shown in the National Land Use Survey (NLUS) conducted in 2019. This is due to exclusion of some areas adjoining to home garden under commercial cultivation such as tea, coconut according to the definition of the home garden considered. 2. Present status of home gardens in Hambantota District Among the total number of home gardens in the district, about 67% of home gardens are underutilized due to various reasons such as lack of water, lack of capital, wild animal threats, adverse physical conditions of the land, labour shortage, etc. (Fig. 2). There are different water sources available in the home gardens. They are mainly having wells and pipe borne water as their water source. (Table 1 and Fig. 3). 3 Fig. 1 Distribution of home gardens in Hambantota District Number of home garden as a percentage which are underutilized due to various reasons 51% 49% Number of fully utilized home gardens Number of underutilized home gardens Fig. 2. Number of home gardens as a percentage of the total that are underutilized in Hambantota District. 4 Availability of Water Sources 2% well 1% 15% 1% Pipe borne water Well & Pipe borne water Other soures like water sprout in the land No water source within the 81% home garden and obtain from outside/ Rainfed Fig.3 Number of home gardens and their percentages based on their water sources. Table 1. Availability of water sources in the home gardens in Hambantota District Water Source well Pipe borne Well & Other No water source Total no of water Pipe borne soures like within the home No. DSD Name home water water garden and gardens sprout in obtain from the land outside/ Rainfed 1 Ambalantota 14,186 525 13,224 - - 437 2 Angunakolapelessa 14,010 1,979 11,963 - - 68 3 Beliatta 14,671 4,924 9,343 332 31 41 4 Hambantota 14,506 582 13,485 - - 439 5 Katuwana 14,121 2,918 9,343 956 804 100 6 Lunugamwehera 10,340 460 9,514 - - 366 7 Okewela 4,760 2,985 1,547 130 80 18 8 Suriyawewa 7,923 551 7,152 - - 220 9 Tangalle 20,700 473 19,855 42 73 257 10 Tissamaharama 15,397 96 14,891 - - 410 11 Walasmulla 10,827 5,082 4,865 635 180 65 12 Weeraketiya 11,734 3,731 7,478 169 168 188 Total 153,174 24,306 122,660 2,264 1,336 2,609 5 3. Number of home gardens and their extents available in Hambantota District The total number of home gardens in the Hambantota district is about 153,174. The size of the home gardens is varying and the majority are between 0.05-0.40 ha (21- 160 perches). There are about 20,997 home gardens which are larger than 0.40 ha. (160 perches or 1ac). Data revealed that most of the home gardens in Tangalle DSD are fairly large. There are about 56% of the home gardens (about 84,950 home gardens) in the district are having enough space for cultivation of tree crops (Fig 4). Land space of the rest of the home gardens is limited may be due to either parcel is small in size or existing tree density (Fig. 5). 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 Total Number of home gardens No of Home gardens which are having Space for tree crops Fig. 4. Comparison of space available home gardens with total number of home gardens in each Divisional Secretary Division 6 Number of home gardens and their extents available in Hambantota District Fig. 5 Number of home gardens based on their sizes available in Hambantota District 7 Table 2: Number of home gardens and their approximate extents available in the Hambantota District Category - 1 Category - 2 Category - 3 No of Home Gardens in all Area No. of Home Gardens No. of Home Gardens No. of Home Gardens categories adjoining to ≤ 0.05 ha. > 0.05 - ≤ 0.4 ha. > 0.4 ha. Home ( ≤ 20 Perches) (21-160 Perches) (> 160 Perches) garden No. DSD Name No. of Total No. of Home Total No. of Home Total Total No of Total under Home extents of Gardens extents of all Gardens extents of all Home extents commercial Gardens all Home Home Home Gardens (ha) cultivation Gardens Gardens Gardens (ha) (ha) (ha) (ha) 1 Ambalantota 2,868 145 9,099 2,088 2,219 1,141 14,186 3,374 3,078 2 Angunakolapelessa 3,138 159 8,813 2,001 2,059 1,051 14,010 3,211 2,719 3 Beliatta 3,464 230 8,049 1,658 3,158 1,651 14,671 3,539 2,514 4 Hambantota 1,756 81 12,079 2,793 671 410 14,506 3,284 1,666 5 Katuwana 1,695 85 10,602 2,481 1,824 928 14,121 3,494 2,084 6 Lunugamwehera 1,962 99 6,796 1,529 1,582 881 10,340 2,508 1,313 7 Okewela 529 21 3,712 763 519 467 4,760 1,251 845 8 Sooriyawewa 1,406 81 5,102 1,226 1,415 779 7,923 2,087 2,111 9 Tangalle 6,331 277 11,946 2,584 2,423 1,489 20,700 4,349 1,351 10 Tissamaharama 3,355 157 9,965 2,116 2,077 1,185 15,397 3,458 1,719 11 Walasmulla 1,800 79 6,791 1,553 2,236 1,542 10,827 3,174 1,453 12 Weeraketiya 1,127 55 9,792 2,354 814 441 11,734 2,849 2,382 Total 29,431 1,468 102,746 23,146 20,997 11,963 153,174 36,578 23,235 Total (Acres) 3,627 57,171 29,549 90,347 57,391 8 Table 3: Number of Home Gardens and their approximate extents available in the Ambalantota Divisional Secretary Division of Hambantota District Category - 1 Category - 2 Category - 3 No of Home Gardens in No.